Heretofore, it has been well known in building block systems to provide interlocking and mortarless building blocks for load-bearing and non-load-bearing walls such that multiple blocks may be assembled in courses and stacked without the use of mortar.
It has also been known to provide standard building blocks made of plastic for constructing courses and stacks of courses to form a wall or walls. Such blocks have included connecting elements at opposite ends and intermeshing connecting members at the top and bottom faces of the blocks. It has also been known that such blocks have self-aligning features because of male and female connectors, as well as interengaging parts for aligning stacked courses of staggered blocks.
It has been long recognized that use of mortarless interlocking blocks without the need of mortar results in rapid construction of walls even when using unskilled labor.
It has also been known to provide mortarless interlocking products in a system which includes and requires a stretcher block for the erection of a wall, corner blocks for defining the intersection of two walls at right angles, and multiple lengths of blocks for accommodating specified longitudinal dimensional courses of blocks. Further, heretofore it has been known to provide corner blocks of various lengths in order to size a wall along a particular course.
Most heretofore known blocks for mortarless interlocking block systems to produce walls have been costly to produce and in many cases grooves or sockets and protrusions or connectors have been cut into the blocks after they have been molded. Such prior known blocks require additional finishing such as by grinding or cutting to provide connections, and to meet required tolerances. Some heretofore known block systems have also included L-shaped corner blocks in order to erect walls perpendicular to each other.
The improved block of the present invention overcomes the difficulties and problems in heretofore known blocks for block systems by providing a single light-weight block of molded plastic which can easily be cut at the job site to accommodate various course lengths and provide for openings needed for windows and/or doors, as well as eliminating the need to have several types of blocks and various sized blocks to erect a block wall for a building.